Crazy Idea of the Day

LA Weekly‘s News Blog, the Informer, posted a story today on the Los Angeles adult education funding crisis that included this great little tidbit:

There has been speculation that “zeroing out” the programs was a highly risky strategic move on the school district’s part to attract grants from either the state or federal government.

Is there any way that this speculation could possibly be true? I don’t understand a scenario in which zeroing out adult education would attract federal or state money from some other source.

UPDATE (2/15/12): LA Weekly‘s report today on the LAUSD Board of Education’s decision to postpone their vote on this cut suggests that the proposal to zero out adult education might have been “political theater orchestrated by district officials to galvanize support for a $270-a-year parcel tax proposed by LAUSD for the November ballot.”